Former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst was writing a book on her life and her struggles with mental illness before she died by suicide in January 2022. Now as the two year anniversary of her death approaches, she is set to become a published author.
Cheslie’s mother, April Simpkins, completed the book titled By the Time You Read This: The Space Between Cheslie’s Smile and Mental Illness.
In an interview published Thursday by Extra, where Cheslie worked as a correspondent, Simpkins explained why it was important to fulfill her daughter’s dream.
“She left me her final wishes in the text message that she sent to me the morning that she passed… that I see to it that her book get published and it has been quite a journey doing that,” Simpkins said in the interview.
Related Story: Cheslie Kryst Shared Her Concerns in Candid Essay Before Her Death
“Cheslie for most people who saw her on TV or saw her at events, she was smiling and she was bubbly and she was happy, and that was her true self,” Simpkins added in the interview. “But there was still a lot of pain that she felt and I do feel like the book stands right between that place of what people saw in her smile and her private battle with depression and that is why we use that phrase ‘the space between her smile and mental illness.’”
The book will be released on April 23, by publisher Forefront Books.
It follows Cheslie’s journey “from the highest highs of passing two bar exams, winning Miss USA, and beginning an exciting career as an entertainment journalist, to the lowest lows of heartbreak, betrayal, and persistent depression,” according to a news release from the publisher.
Simpkins completed the book by writing about the pain of losing her daughter and finding the strength to carry on.
On Jan. 30, 2022, Cheslie took her life by jumping from the 29th story of a building in Midtown Manhattan, as previously reported. She was 30 years old.
The attorney won the Miss USA title in 2019. She joined Extra as a correspondent in October 2019.
Cheslie was active in the community, including sitting on the national board of directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and serving as a global impact ambassador for Dress for Success, a nonprofit that provides professional clothing for low-income women as they search for jobs.
You can pre-order her book here. According to the publisher, net proceeds will be used to support the Cheslie C. Kryst Foundation, which is being founded in Cheslie’s honor.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988. Text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org. Help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
